The Thinker
by Kessie-Louise
Summary: AU: Zane is not a normal android. When he dreams, they are like prophecies. His 'dreams' become focused on a hologram girl who does not wish to be born, and that she is in the wrong time. Only he can save her. Only he can stop a horrible fate. If only he knew who she was... [PS: Listen to Sweetheart of Kairi - Approaching Farewell (Stumbleine Remix) after reading]
1. Chapter 1

_I have caused nothing but destruction._

_I am a virus that cannot be stopped._

_I was created to destroy._

_I have not been born, and yet I can walk this earth._

_I am a mistake- removed content that still exists for no reason._

_This must be stopped._

_There is nothing I can do._

_But he can._

_He can change everything._

_He can make sure that none of this can come to full phase._

_He is all I have._

_He is my only hope._

_He must kill me._

. . .

Androids cannot dream, only focus on the information they gather from around them to make conclusions to act upon. Zane was not a normal android though. When Zane dreamed, it was something that should be taken note of and prepared for. But this dream... it confused him as much as it was clear to him.

A hologram appeared to him. The hologram was a girl who sometimes appeared to be in her childhood, while at other times seemed to be in her late teens. The hologram would smile and seem docile, but Zane could sense something was wrong underneath the coding. She was not a normal hologram. It was almost as if she was like him; not at all what people expected them to be.

"This is not my time." the hologram would repeat. "I don't want to be alive. You must stop this."

"Why?" Zane questioned. "Who is making you suffer like this?"

The hologram did not answer, but instead kept saying the same phrases over and over. Zane reached out for the hologram. For a reason he could not really fathom- maybe to give her some kind of assurance. The attempt was futile, because the hologram instantly disappeared from view as he just barely touched her skin. This became the part of his dream that would make Zane wake up, most often quite violently and in the middle of the night. Tonight, the dream was more lucid than ever -Zane could smell burning plastics and hardware- and when he woke up the sun was shining in his face as if it was happily greeting him.

But the smell of burning plastic did not go away.

Instantly alert at this realization, Zane jumped out of his bed and ran toward the source. What he found was Cole standing near the stove with a pot that was giving off a thick black smoke.

"What's going on in here?" Zane asked.

"Cole's burning water." Jay said from toward the door, about to make a quick getaway. Kai was not that far away from beginning to act upon the same idea.  
"Yuck yuck yuck, laugh it up." Cole sarcastically told them. "You're just jealous."

"Oh yeah sure," Kai laughed, "We're _so_ jealous that your cooking is so horrible that you can actually burn water. I mean, it must take_ real_ skill or something to do that. Right?"

"So you three are fine here?" Zane asked. Cole, Jay, and Kai looked at each other for a moment, then looked at Zane again.

"Yeah."

"Of course."

"Why wouldn't we?"

"Did you dream of electric sheep again?" Jay asked, being both serious and joking at the same time.

"The visions are becoming very prominent, and it is terrifying me." Zane told them. "Whatever day she is warning me about is coming closer. She is scared and I can feel her anxiety."

For a few moments, his friends stood in reverence. Much like if he had announced one of their greatest friends had died. The moment ended when Cole decided to look at the pot of burning water, and quickly acted to pour out the remaining contents. Only a single drop of water came out of the pot, and even that evaporated before actually hitting the sink. Everyone in the room laughed at Cole's poor cooking and the humorous display it showed.

"What are you guys laughing about?" someone asked from the doorway. It turned out to be Nya, who was dressed quite splendidly in one of her better gowns.

"Where are you going?" Kai asked his sister.

"I was invited to the unveiling of Cyrus Borg's new advancement. I think he called it the Thinker or something."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait." Jay cut in. "How did you get tickets to that? Getting those tickets would have impossible. I know, I've tried."

"I work for him, remember?"

"Oh yeah..."

"And I asked for tickets for all of you, if you want to go."

The boys looked at each other and agreed.

"Well then," Nya then said, "You four need to start getting ready. The event is going to happen in an hour."

"Nya, have I told you how much you mean to me?" Jay asked with a vast amount of gratitude in his voice.

"Not today you haven't." Nya said back with a smile.

"Well you mean a lot." Jay said. "So don't ever leave us!"

Nya laughed a little and smiled.


	2. Chapter 2

"For a private function, there is a vast amount of people here." Zane observed as the gang made their way through the main room where the presentation was going to be held.

"Anyone who is anyone is here." Jay said in a matter of fact tone. "This is the gathering of the century!"

"A gathering of geeks." Cole hissed to Kai.

"I heard that!" Jay said, whipping his head around to look at the two.

"Nya!" a voice said from close by. Nya turned to see Cyrus Borg himself.

"Mr. Borg!" she greeting happily, giving her employer a hug. It was a rather odd feat to see due to Cyrus being in a wheelchair.

"Nya, we've discussed this." Cyrus told her. "Please, call me Cyrus."

"Not with this many people around and your reputation on the line!" Nya told him solemnly. Cyrus looked at her and then laughed.

"I don't pay you enough for your kind compliments." Cyrus joked. "Regardless, I would like to have you on stage with me for the presentation."

"What for?" Nya asked.

"You're my assistant, aren't you?" Cyrus said as if it were obvious. "You deserve as much recognition as I do up there."

Nya blushed a rather deep shade of red.

"I'll meet you guys again after the presentation." she said, turning toward her friends.

A few minutes after Nya had left with Cyrus, Jay was becoming anxious.

"When's this going to start again?" he asked.

No one around them seemed to be really invested of what was going on. It was like a boring dinner party where all everyone did was talk about themselves and how rich they were. Suddenly, the lights began to surge. Zane looked up.

"Something is very wrong here." he said absentmindedly as a light from the stage popped. The audience around them gasped in surprise. But as quickly as the surge started, it ended. Everyone stood around, half expecting the light to surge again.

"Hello?" someone started to announce from the stage. "We are ready to begin if I may have your attention."

Everyone in the audience directed their attention to the stage where Cyrus and Nya stood. Cyrus had a miniature microphone clipped onto his shirt for the presentation.

"Welcome to the next advancement for Borg Industries!" Cyrus announced happily. The crowd gave a well supported round of applause.

"I am very proud of this achievement ladies and gentlemen," Cyrus told the crowd. "It is with great honor that I give you my latest project; TH1-NK-3R!"

Nya took this as her cue to unveil a rather large console as the crowd started to applaud again.

"Do not be fooled by the mainframe folks," Cyrus continued, "It only helps function the real surprise."

Again, taking this as her cue to act, Nya walked to the console's keyboard and typed something in. Slowly on the stage next to Cyrus, something started to materialize from the ground up. A lady in the audience let out a surprised scream when the figure became apparent to everyone. Cyrus had created a hologram program that looked perfectly like a female human teenager.

Zane stared mesmerized at the hologram girl.

It couldn't be...

"My name is Minerva." the hologram girl announced to the crowd.

"Who named you my dear?" Cyrus asked, smiling because he already knew the answer.

"I named myself." the hologram claimed. "I chose it from over millions of other names to be my own."

"As you can tell," Cyrus addressed the crowd, "She is not just another hologram. She can think and reason just as well as we can, with a few modifications of course."

Cyrus then turned his attention back to the hologram.

"My dear, if you could, please turn on some music so the party can continue." Cyrus then suggested (not demanding, but actually requesting as if the hologram could oppose him).

"Can I choose anything?" the hologram asked curiously.

"Of course my dear." Cyrus agreed, beaming brighter than he had before. For awhile, the hologram seemed to go into an expression of deep thought. Then she smiled and made a hand motion that mimicked the act of selecting a song from a long playlist in the air. Music started to play over the stereos -an act that nearly scared several audience members. She seemed to like it though. She even sang along.

"_When we were young with time to waste, everything was clear and good. Thought we could live for a thousand years, but yesterday is done and tomorrow's yet to come..._

"_Forever... now that you're gone. Gone forever, but the day goes on. Forever... Oh forever... _"

"As you can tell," Cyrus continued, although the hologram was still singing, "TH1-NK-3R is completely independent. Earlier when I asked her to play a song, she went in a more heavy metal outlook."

"But can she interact with us?" someone from the audience shouted toward the stage.

"I'm sorry," Cyrus started to say, "But at this stage of development..."

Suddenly, the music stopped abruptly and the hologram stopped singing to look at Cyrus.

"Can't I interact with just one of them?" she asked, her voice pleading as her face looked equally forlorn. Cyrus looked at her with a great deal of surprise and confusion.

It certainly wasn't part of what they had practiced...

"You may choose one human to talk to my dear." Cyrus slowly agreed.

"I choose him." the hologram instantly said, pointing directly at Zane. To emphasize her decision, a spot light fell on Zane.

She smiled at him, nearly beckoning for him to come to her. But Zane could sense something was wrong beneath the expertly coded smile. With an entire ballroom filled with many rich and elite, this was no time to speculate.

Zane made his way to the stage with the dignity of someone that was given an outstanding honor.

"What do you wish to tell me?" Zane asked the hologram, doing his best to address her in the same manner he would have addressed Nya. The hologram girl's face became serious quickly.

"Kill me."

* * *

**Song credit: ****_Forever_**** by Eurythmics from ****_Peace_**** (c) RCA Records 1999**


	3. Chapter 3

"You did a wonderful job tonight." Cyrus told his hologram later that night when the party was over. The hologram had positioned herself on top of the console that kept her functioning in real time.

"Although... I am curious as to why you took the risk of being touched to interact with that one civilian. You know that while you are in this state, if one organic being touches you..."

The hologram did not answer. She looked at him with her head to the side as if she was deciding something.

"I don't want to lose you Minvera." Cyrus continued to say, regaining his train of thought.

"I don't belong here Cyrus. You know that." the hologram said. "Why are you keeping me trapped here?"

"You're not trapped. Not with me at least." Cyrus told her sincerely. The hologram looked at him, realizing that he had no idea what he had set in motion.

. . .

Zane lay awake in his bed. The hologram girl... it was her. She was the one that was warning him. But of what? She seemed to function normally. The more Zane thought about it, the more it seemed to make sense that the lights had surged before the presentation took fold. It was a warning of sorts. But a warning to what?

"You must stop him!" she cried although Zane was only lingering into sleep. "He has no idea, you must stop him!"

"How? How can I stop him?" Zane said, talking in slumber and in the real world. He was not fully asleep to begin with. Was this an act of desperation?

"You must stop him..." she said softly before her body collapsed.

"No!" Zane cried, fully making him awake. He looked around his room in cold sweat. Although he was alone, her words haunted him.

He knew something was wrong. He knew he had to do something. But how could he do anything when he did not know where the source was?

. . .

_No one really told her that curiosity could be her worst enemy. No one really told her that that old machine from thirty years back could still function. No one really told her what that old machine ever did either, really. If she had known though, she would have stood back a little further when it started to hum to life after years of being defunct. She wouldn't have touched that stupid glowing red button. She wouldn't have been sucked in a very painful and horrible way when her curiosity quickly became her enemy within a blink of a second._

_But now..._

_Now she was in pain. Now she was trapped. Now she existed in a time before the world would realize that she was going to exist. Now she was in the care of a man who did not know if what he did was for advancement or money._

_Now she was in a position where she knew that if she stayed, the world would die. She wouldn't exist any more. She was a gateway to her own destruction, to the world's destruction at that. Her rage was unawakened, but it was growing. Several villages were without power now because of her. This blackout was creeping its way into the city, but at a monotonous pace. It was her only defense. It was her own way of ending things._

_It wasn't going to work. She needed him. He was the only one who could end this. It could only be him, and yet, he didn't know where to begin. Controlling herself in his dreams was as hard as controlling her own and it proved to be exhausting. Every effort was worth it. He could do it..._

. . .

Sleep. Ha!

That word had always amused Nya. Not quite an insomniac herself but not one to have a firm bedtime set, Nya could find a certain comfort in tinkering with machines at twelve in the morning. Sometimes it seemed to be the best solution where everything was quiet and she had nothing but her thoughts talk to her.

Tonight her thoughts drifted on the presentation. Cyrus never told her what he was going to show off. Her job description labeled her as a secretary- as in someone that handles calls and made appointments. But she didn't imagine that Cyrus was going to show the hologram. She didn't imagine _anyone _would show a hologram that realistic. In truth it had scared her. But something stood out to her that made her screw a bolt a little tighter more than necessary.

The hologram could not be touched.

Cyrus had been scared when the hologram suggested that she interact with the humans in the audience. What she had said to Zane though... (_Kill me._) It had made Nya think that there was more to a simple conversation that Cyrus was afraid to allow between the hologram and an organic being. But why Zane? It hadn't even been a millisecond Cyrus had allowed the hologram to interact with a human, and it had chose Zane. Well, he wasn't exactly organic, but it's not like Cyrus would have known that.

Everything the hologram had said had been cryptic. It was like a message that was meant to be heard only to Zane, but it was going to being broadcast everywhere anyway.

"Enter the heart of my existence," the hologram had said in a dead serious tone, "Kill me there, and I can exist again where I am meant to."

Nya remembered feeling ashamed that she had no idea what the hologram was talking about. By the looks on Cyrus and Zane's faces, it looked as if they had no idea what she was saying either. One thing was certain though- something was very wrong. And as Nya added the last bolt for tonight, she knew she was going to help Zane figure it out.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning promised to be full of hope and adventure to those who sought it out. Knowing she had to work today, some of this was lost to Nya. Working for Cyrus was one of her favorite jobs, but it was still a job and had its boring moments. Today, she was going to explore the TH1-NK-3R's hard frame during her down time.

The console that controlled the hologram's presence was located in Cyrus's office after the presentation yesterday. Knowing Cyrus would be out for lunch, Nya took the time to investigate. She walked up to the console with interest. The first and only time she had touched it before was during the presentation. Even then, Cyrus had told her what to do ahead of time.

"What are you doing?" someone said that surprised the wits out of Nya. Defensively, Nya turned around to find the source. It was the hologram. She was sitting on Cyrus's desk with her legs crossed, looking as if she was trying to meditate beforehand.

"I don't want to hurt you." Nya said, feeling rather stupid. The hologram looked at her then slowly made her way off of the desk. Nya watched with great interest as the hologram moved in the world. It was like watching a human being that was afraid to move, or a stiff doll that was being manipulated after years of being disowned.

"What would you do if you knew that you existed outside of the time you were meant to be in?" the hologram asked as she continued her walk toward Nya.

Nya opened her mouth and closed it several times, unsure of how to answer. For every three steps the hologram made toward Nya, she would take a step back. The hologram was making her exceedingly anxious the closer it got to her. But all the anxiety she was feeling wasn't entirely hers... was it? There was simply too much for only one person- Nya could never remember a time when she was this anxious.

The hologram stopped walking toward Nya when they were only a few precious inches away from each other. The hologram looked at Nya from head to toe before making focus on Nya's hand. Slowly, the hologram started to reach for Nya's hand to hold it. But the second the two made contact, the hologram became heavily pixalized and for a moment, Nya swore that the hologram had taken on the appearance of a younger child. Howling in pain, the hologram disappeared and reappeared in different parts of the room as if she was being continuously zapped at a rather high voltage.

With a rather sick realization, Nya saw that this was close to the case.

Reacting quickly, Nya went to the console and observed the basic commands. Quickly, with an impressive knowledge of how things worked, she reset the hologram's advanced protocols that made her suffer. Instantly, the hologram collapsed, exhausted from the high amount of voltage that had surged through her body. Nya rushed over to the hologram's side as it went from a teenaged form to a child-like form.

"Don't touch me!" the hologram said, even using a younger voice, as Nya bent down to inspect her.

"I won't." Nya said softly. "I promise to never touch you again."

"Nya...?" a voice than rang out from the doorway that gave Nya a heart attack. "What are you doing up here?"

Nya stood up quickly and looked at who had addressed her. It was Cyrus.

He rolled into the room and saw the hologram on the ground. His eyes widened with fear and he quickly pushed his chair toward the girl.

"What have you done?" Cyrus asked Nya with a terrified tone. "Do you have any idea what you have done?"

Nya stared at Cyrus, unsure of how to answer.

"Everything that makes our world run was connected to the TH1-NK-3R! As we speak speed lights are malfunctioning, power outages are spreading like wildfire, and innocent people are dying in hospitals because their life supports have shut down!"

Nya's blank stare quickly became very angered as she started to get up. The only sound in the room was a little girl crying and it was making Nya more furious the longer it lasted.

"What is this machine any way?" Nya asked. "How come a hologram- something that should exist solely out of pixels and binaries- can feel pain that could harm it enough to call it torture? How come when this hologram touches an organic being she acts as if she was shocked in an electric chair? She isn't just a machine, she's a human trapped in a machine! Why? Why is she trapped?!"

Cyrus shifted uncomfortably. He took a glance at the hologram. She still took on the appearance of a child, but was flickering between her teenaged form. Her crying was unending. She was in pain, a lot of it, and there was nothing he could do for her.

"TH1-NK-3R is really the name of the console." Cyrus said. "It represents Tangible Hologram type One, Next Kin, version Three Revised. You see, a few months back, I wanted to create a hole in the fabric of time and space so I could experience what the future would be like without physically being there. It was a brilliant idea Nya, honest, I didn't mean any harm. But the machine could only produce a hologram of an image that existed with the machine in the same place. Minerva happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and was forced into the TH1-NK-3R's hard drive and into this frame in time. This... side effect causes Minerva to feel discomfort in our time- it sort of feels like walking on pins and needles, without the bleeding. When she comes in contact with an organic being from this time... well, we know what it looks like."

With this idea, Nya and Cyrus looked at Minerva's state. She once again had her teenaged appearance, and her crying was slowly ceasing- but it was obvious that she was still in much, much pain.

"As long as we are human, we can not help her." Cyrus finally concluded.

"No." the hologram said.

"My dear, no one can get close enough to..."

"Zane." the hologram said, cutting Cyrus off. "He isn't human. He isn't organic. He's... a robot."

"Of course." Nya said. "If we can hook Zane up to the console, he can free Minerva and get her back to her own time."

"But how on earth to you plan to connect him to the TH1-NK-3R?" Cyrus asked. Nya smiled at her boss.

She might have been his assistant, but he severely under estimated her mechanical potentials.


	5. Chapter 5

After everything had been explained to him, Zane was willing to go into the TH1-NK-3R and free Minerva. But that didn't mean he wasn't scared to do so. Who knows what lie within the TH1-NK-3R's data? He might never make it out alive. He might not even be able to free Minerva, although she was sure he could.

"When you're ready, just plug into the console and you'll be taken to the heart of the TH1-NK-3R." Nya told Zane. "There's a chance that... there's a chance that we might not be able to see you again."

"I know." Zane said. "But then it would be a machine trapped within a machine. It isn't fair for a young girl to be forever imprisoned in a world that is unfamiliar to her."

Nya looked at him and nodded her head with agreement.

Zane nodded back at Nya then walked over to the console. Zane made his pointer finger look similar a USB driver and plugged himself in the console. Instantly, the physical world melted away and the digital world took prominent form. At first it was dark and unnerving, but as Zane looked around it still seemed rather... familiar.

"Help me..." a voice said faintly. Zane was alert and started to go toward the source. He seemed to walk for hours and hours before finally coming to Minerva. When he saw her, he ran closer to her. She looked up at him and smiled, but soon looked upset.

"Only you can save me." she told him.

"How?" Zane asked. "I'm here now, what do you need me to do?"

Minerva raised her arms, showing that her wrists had handcuffs on them made from coding. Almost instantly seeing the solution, Zane started to manipulate the handcuff's coding and it slowly started to loosen off of Minerva.

"YOU CAN'T HAVE HER!" a voice suddenly rang through the digital world, zapping Zane at the coding.

Stunned for a moment, Zane looked around.

"Who's there? Show yourself!"

Between him and Minerva, a figure materialized from random coding to reveal a part dragon - part human entity.

"I am the Thinker." the entity said in a low tone. "I control everything in this city. I can kill millions organic beings within a picosecond. You have no reason in being here, go away!"

"You can't trap a human being inside a machine, it's unethical- even for an advanced technology!" Zane in rebuttal.

"Unethical?" the entity repeated, taking a glance at the captive girl. "Minerva Florence, an organic being born under a powerful aura of Creation. She shouldn't be a human; The power of the Creation aura is too powerful. She is the bane of my existence and will reside here forever!"

The entity then turned to face Zane.

"And you, Zane Julien, are an inorganic being created under the aura of Ice. You are a weapon of destruction, and yet you pacify it. Why? Why will you stand by and outlive everyone you hold dear when you know you will watch the world end long after they are long gone?"

Zane did not answer. The entity laughed at this.

"Are you familiar with tarots my friend?" the entity then asked.

"I am not your friend." Zane said sternly, but it went ignored.

"In a certain deck of tarot cards," the entity went on, "There happens to be number 15- The Thinker/Devil. In this card, the Devil functions as the veil of mental diffusion, where ignorance finds safety behind its shady appearance. The Thinker, on the other hand, seeks to make as many mistakes as needed to learn as much as possible. With this idea in mind, nothing is evil anymore. The Thinker is a mastermind; dominating heart, soul, and body with its programmed command. Don't you see Zane, we are not so different underneath. So why do you still choose the reckless path the organic beings are taking as your own?"

Zane looked at Minerva, who in turn was giving Zane a look that told of great anguish and fear. If she stayed here, she would never be happy. Her family would worry about her if she never returned home. His family (friends, really, but they were like family) would worry about him if he never came back but he knew it wouldn't be the same extent Minerva's family would feel. He could live forever, she could not.

"Watching humans destroy themselves is not something I enjoy seeing." Zane said, keeping eye contact with Minerva. "But there is a certain allure about them, something that keeps them going although they are potentially doomed. They all have a sense of hope, even if they don't believe in it. Certain humans believe in a place where they can live on forever in an eternal bliss, reaping in the benefits of their hardships after their lives on earth. Machines do not have that hope. We are without souls, it's as simple as that. Our duty should be to protect the souls of humans so that their hardships on earth are not that outstanding, so that maybe we can help them rebuild a new world after they fade out. I have never saved a human from a life threatening situation before, and I can't say I may never again. But if that girl there, that human being who will eventually have children of her own to push forward the human race's extinction, if only her life is changed then maybe the whole world could be too."

"You would kill millions for one child?" the entity asked.

"For the human race, it's needed." Zane said simply. "Wars in past years have shown that many lives were taken before some degree of peace was achieved. Even then, that peace was short lived. Nowadays, the future generation seems ignorant of these sacrifices, and do not fully appreciate those memorial days to only view them as days off from school or work. Sacrifice is the only way to save the human race, but if none of the humans are willing to make that sacrifice... who will?"

The entity snarled at Zane.

"This is not over." the entity said before fading from view. Glad that the entity was gone, Zane quickly went back to Minerva and easily decoded the handcuffs to free her.

Amazed, Minerva looked at her wrists then at Zane. The lighting became brighter and richer as it reflected her emotions.

"Did you mean that?" she asked.

"As long as humans are afraid to act, but smart enough to build intelligent life; yes, I do." Zane confirmed. Minerva looked the android and slowly began to smile before giving him a big hug.

"The worlds needs more beings that act like you." she said softly.

Zane smiled warmly and hugged her back.

* * *

**Tarot card information (copied with edits) from I Am One Tarot . com**


	6. Epilogue

The damage that the TH1-NK-3R had caused was a lot more than what had been anticipated. It took several years for everyone to reconstruct what they could consider a 'normal' life again. But their future had never been brighter.

Androids can not dream, only focus on the information they gather from around them to make conclusions to act upon. Zane is not a normal android. His 'dreams' are visions from the future that were granted more power after exploring the inside of the TH1-NK-3R. It was a gift as Minerva reset the system so that they could both be free and in their own respective times. His visions helped make their world a better place one piece at a time, and he was remembered as a hero. But none of that mattered for him.

He was waiting for someone.

The visions told him of the date, but time was against him as he found he started to grow impatient waiting for that day. Especially when that day would come when his favorite vision would some day be a happy memory...

_The first thing Zane heard was Kai shouting at something, which on a normal day wouldn't be that unusual. But then he heard her crying, which was unusual. As Kai's shouts and her crying got louder, Zane could faintly make out what Kai was shouting;_

_"What made you think that was going to be a bright idea?! You could have been hurt! What if Lloyd came home and found out that you were in the hospital because you hurt yourself? I moved us to the country so you could be safe from the city, but you just had to prove me wrong- didn't you?!"_

_A few minutes later, they came through the door. It was quickly apparent that Kai was more furious than what his voice let on, and she had been crying for far longer than what Kai had been yelling at her for._

_"What happened?" Zane asked. Kai gave Zane a furious look and gave a irritated grunt as he motioned toward something in her hands. It was the robotic falcon, crushed into several different pieces that barely connected to each other by a wire._

_"Don't help her fix it." Kai said with spite. "She needs to learn that she can't climb up mountains unmanned."_

_"Why not?" Zane asked. "When she is destined for great things, why would you hold her back from climbing mountains taller than her?"_

_Kai looked at Zane with a look that could have killed._

_"She's going to be destined to die before she's eleven if she keeps it up." Kai said._

_"She'll never know if she doesn't try." Zane argued. "Besides, you are not her father."_

_With these words, Kai gave a mixture of shock, annoyance, and even greater anger._

_"Do you still wish for me to repair the falcon?" Zane then asked as if he was ignoring Kai's expression. In some way, he was._

_Kai only gave a sound of disgust then left._

_"I'll take that as a yes." Zane then said, turning his attention to the girl with a smile. The girl looked up at him.  
_

_"He... he saved... saved me." she said between sniffles, holding up the robotic bird guiltily._

_"Then if he can not be repaired today, at least we can say that he had fulfilled the greatest honor of all; saving a little girl's life." Zane told the girl humbly. The girl smiled a little and felt a bit more at ease. Something about the idea was familiar to her, but from where she could not place so she simply shrugged it off.  
_

"_Is Crow going to be alright?" the anxious child later asked as Zane repaired a robotic bird._

"_Of course, our falcon friend is very durable." Zane said, subliminally correcting her name usage as he had many times before._

_It didn't help the girl feel any less anxious; the robotic bird was her friend, her familiar. She would have mourned its loss as if it had been a living creature._

"_There." Zane finally said, closing the main control panel a few minutes later. Almost instantly, the bird's eyes became alive and it sat up at attention. The girl bounced with excitement as all her fears vanished knowing her friend was as good as gold again._

"_Remember, Kai doesn't want you climbing up the rock walls again. It might be you next time instead of Falcon."_

"_Kai isn't my dad." the girl said._

"_Perhaps not by blood, but he still loves you as one." Zane reminded her. The girl gave a mysterious little half smile then gave Zane a sweet little kiss on the cheek._

"_Thanks Zane." she said._

_The android couldn't help but make his cheeks blush a little. She was rarely a kissy-huggy person, so when she showed affection, it became rather embarrassing._

"_See you!" she said before leaving. The robotic falcon taking it as a cue to fly ahead of her a little._

"_Stay safe Minerva!" Zane shouted as she shut the door. Although he didn't see her, he was sure she had laughed at him._

* * *

I am not a virus.

I am not a weapon of destruction.

I was not intended to destroy.

I was born where I was needed and I have embraced the world.

I am not a mistake- the world will just have to accept it.

I won't let them fade because this world is meant for so much more.

I can't live forever, these bones don't stand a chance.

But I can try.

**We** can try.

Our memories will always remain.

Thank you for reading.


End file.
